A short history of the
Southwold Railway

Southwold Station

The ancient port of Southwold adjoins marsh and heathland on the Suffolk coastline, twelve miles south of Lowestoft (the most easterly point in England). The once-important harbour declined during the 18th and 19th centuries in favour of Lowestoft - accentuating the need for tourists and trade - although there was still some fishing. In the 1850s, the East Suffolk Railway had taken a westerly course from Lowestoft to Ipswich, thus passing through Halesworth and Darsham, leaving Southwold 9 miles from a railway line. A once-daily horse-drawn omnibus service from Darsham was woefully inadequate. The ESR (and later the GER) refused requests for a branch line, and by 1875 local opinion had reached a peak. The Southwold Railway Company was formed with the help of local people (many of whom bought shares), a gauge of 3ft was chosen, and the Halesworth-based board set about raising the money. They had difficulties and were replaced by another board, with meetings transferred to the London offices of the new chairman, Richard Rapier. Having set up the scheme, the local people were less than amused at this and there was an element of ill feeling when the line opened on 24th September 1879 - despite the object of the exercise having being achieved.

The 8.75-mile line commenced at Southwold Station (near Buss
Creek on the edge of Southwold) and proceeded through a cutting across Southwold
Common and marshes, and thence across the River Blyth on a 146ft swing bridge -
the only sizeable engineering structure on the line. Next came Walberswick Station,
some half a mile from the village (a constant source of complaints). The site of
the station now has a commemorative SRS seat.

A Southwold-bound train passing through the Heronry

From there, the line continued across the heath and through
the Heronry to arrive at Blythburgh station. The section between Southwold
and Blythburgh is for the most part eminently walkable, with the track formation
clearly visible (the SRS has an annual walk along this section after Christmas).
Blythburgh station site is near to the White Hart pub and the magnificent
15th century church overlooking the Blyth estuary. The line then followed
the course of the river Blyth over fields to Wenhaston Station, where the
only set of public level crossing gates on the line were to be found. The
last two miles to Halesworth passed Wenhaston Mill (and siding), a quarry,
an engine shed, and then ran parallel to the East Suffolk main line before
ultimately crossing Holton Road via a girder bridge to reach the exchange
sidings and Halesworth station, which was connected to the adjacent GER/LNER
main line station by a footbridge.

The Southwold Railway was single track throughout, worked on the one-engine-in-steam
principle, although later the line was divided into 2 (later, 3) sections.
Trains were almost invariably mixed, with shunting at intermediate stations.
With a 16mph speed limit, this shunting must have added to the tedium of a
9-mile journey that took around 35 minutes. It was possible to cycle the journey
quicker! The line was built on gently sloping countryside, so there were few
notable earthworks and, apart from occasional flooding in the marshes, the
operation was generally uneventful.

At the opening, the Southwold Railway had three engines manufactured by Sharp,
Stewart & Co. Ltd. of Manchester - 2-4-0Ts imaginatively called ‘Southwold’, ‘Halesworth’ and ‘Blyth’. Traffic did not provide sufficient revenue at the outset to warrant three locos
and No 1 Southwold was returned to the makers in 1883; to be replaced later (in 1893)

Southwold No 1 at Halesworth

with a 2-4-2T (also called ‘Southwold’) as the increased volume
of traffic rose steadily. In 1914 a much larger Manning Wardle 0-6-2T was obtained
in anticipation of increased traffic from the Harbour Branch. Rolling stock included
six 6-wheel coaches (originally with attractive balcony ends until rebuilt after
the First World War); some 6-wheel coal trucks (some of which were owned by coal
merchant Thomas Moy - thus being the only privately-owned wagons on an English
narrow gauge railway); 2 goods vans and a selection of 4-wheel trucks, many with
distinctive curved ends.

The Southwold Railway gradually developed, and in 1900 carried 10,000 passengers,
90,000 tons of minerals and 600 tons of general merchandise. Expansion was
considered, including the mile-long harbour branch, a branch to Lowestoft
(or Kessingland to meet a proposed GER branch there), a link to meet the
mid-Suffolk Light railway in Halesworth or Laxfield, or conversion of the
whole line to standard gauge. Priority was given to this last proposal although
progress was slow, and eventually lack of finance led to its abandonment.
The railway was thus left virtually the way it was when it opened. The harbour
branch was eventually built, but the fishing trade was already in decline
and the only advantage of the branch was a grant, which allowed the purchase
of the fourth engine. The outbreak of WWI effectively killed of the fishing
trade.

The line became a bit of a joke locally. Although it provided an important
link with the outside world, the eccentric coaches, engines and gauge - and
the noted unreliability of the Southwold Railway - led to a series of now
well-known postcards by local cartoonist Reg Carter, poking fun at the line
(one of which is reproduced below).

After the First World War, financial depression caused a general decline
in the fortunes of the line. Up to 1925 the line showed a profit, but when
the end came, it was sudden. Motorbuses started outside Southwold in 1926
and the railway responded with increased services and reduced prices; but
when the buses were permitted to pick up from within Southwold in 1928, even
drastic cuts could not save the line. Essentially, the directors gave up
and decided to cut their losses by closing the line rather than investing
in an already out-dated railway.

On April 11th 1929, after one week’s notice, the line closed. A Pathé News
film exists of the last trains. So abrupt was the closure that the line had
to carry on for a further ten days to clear the goods backlog. If a Southwold
transport crisis was hoped for by the management (who had received little
support from Southwold Corporation), it was not to be. Two separate plans
to reopen the line quickly divided the support, and that was that. An abandonment
order was applied for and, extraordinarily, was only eventually granted in
the 1990's!

Because of this, the company existed for many years and no one was able to
do anything about the line. When closed, stock was just left to rot at Halesworth.
Scrap metal recovery for the Second World War provoked a last-ditch attempt
to save the line (which failed of course), and in July 1941 the line and engines
were cut up for scrap, realising the grand total of £1,500.

Reminders of the Southwold Railway still to be seen today:

Southwold Station site
now has a Police Station and a Fire Station on the site,

Southwold Cutting is
now a delightful footpath, with evidence of the two base supports for the golf
club footbridge, which provided access across the cutting until the 1960s,

The
swing bridge has been replaced by a footbridge on the same plinths,

The last
remaining section of track in situ is still to be found at the river’s
edge opposite the Southwold Sailing Club at Blackshore Quay,

Walberswick Station
building base has been uncovered and provided with a commemorative seat,

The
coal shed at Blythburgh Station goods shed is still standing, although fading
fast,

Wenhaston station site has been uncovered and a commemorative sign was
erected in the year 2000,

The site of the exchange sidings and station at Halesworth
is now a housing estate,

One of the two goods vans survived and is at the East
Anglian Transport Museum at Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft,

There are small
sections of track visible in various places along the line, which is easily
walkable from Blythburgh to Southwold.